Hit Filmmaker Jon Favreau’s Techniques and Routines

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“The laughter doesn’t last if there is no story. Story is king. You think it’s about the laughs, but, really, it’s about investing in the story and being drawn in.”– Jon Favreau [58:55]

Jon Favreau is a man of many talents. He burst onto the acting scene with his role in Rudy.

He established himself as a writer with the iconic cult hit Swingers, in which he starred.

Then, Favreau made his feature film directorial debut with Made, which he also wrote and produced. Other directing credits include Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Cowboys & Aliens, Elf, Zathura, and Chef, which he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in.

Lots of commas! This man does everything.

Most recently, he appeared in The Wolf of Wall Street as an actor, and he’s currently directing a live-action film with groundbreaking technology that will blow your mind — an adaptation of Disney’s Jungle Book, set to be released on April 15, 2016.

This episode goes deep into everything —
– How did he get started?
– What role did Dungeons and Dragons play?
– What made Swingers unique, and how was Elf an inflection point?
– What are the creative (and control) choices he made Chef and why?
– What are his writing techniques, routines, and tools?– And much, much more.

If you create anything, Jon is a prime example of reinvention, doing it all, and doing it well. Enjoy the lessons!

#71: The Master Creator - How Jon Favreau Went from Swingers to Elf to Ironman to Chef

Want to hear another podcast with a world-class comedian and actor? — Listen to my conversations with Bryan Callen. In his episode, we discuss improving creativity, optimal performance, eating Corgis, and more (stream below or right-click here to download):

This episode is sponsored by Onnit. I have used Onnit products for years. If you look in my kitchen or in my garage you will find Alpha BRAIN, chewable melatonin (for resetting my clock while traveling), kettlebells, maces, battle ropes, and steel clubs. It sounds like a torture chamber, and it basically is. A torture chamber for self-improvement! To see a list of my favorite pills, potions, and heavy tools, click here.

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Please check out Tribe of Mentors, my newest book, which shares short, tactical life advice from 100+ world-class performers. Many of the world's most famous entrepreneurs, athletes, investors, poker players, and artists are part of the book. The tips and strategies in Tribe of Mentors have already changed my life, and I hope the same for you. Click here for a sample chapterand full details. Roughly 90% of the guests have never appeared on my podcast.

Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That’s how we’re gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration)

That’s why most screenwriters’ advice is to read good screenplays and not how-to’s. In the same way that aspiring novelists should read great novels. Save the Cat is a decent book to understand the various screenwriting techniques, but I’m right along with you. It doesn’t do much, credibility-wise, to have a non-successful person giving advice on a craft. But who knows, maybe this guy has hundreds of unsold screenplays sitting in a drawer somewhere waiting for the light.

Tim just in time! Launching a kickstarter this month or in May to fund an adaptation of the Sorrows of Werther. It’s a joke that no one in Hollywood has adapted it yet. It’s blockbuster tested. Also, what would it cost to sponsor one of your Podcasts? This is so I can factor it into the funding goal. I’m looking to put this film on a “Tim Ferris effect” wave. I think I should ask, are sponsorships still available?

Names Brendan Hegarty by the way. Still figuring this word press thing out.

Fantastic work, I have read/listened to everything you’ve put out. Since reading the 4HWW the year it came out, I turned down 2 investment banking jobs, pursued my dream of playing pro sport, set up a start up 5 years ago as a social entrepreneur. I’ve taken 3 months out to live in Lake Tahoe (I’m based in the UK), travelled for cheap and got an great girlfriend from using your principles in the book. Thank you for your help.

Tim, I have been following you for years – probably from the beginning. And the Jon Favreau interview is just fantastic!! I have never felt compelled to comment – but enjoyed this interview so much that I felt I must. Keep up the great creative work.

Thank you for putting so much time, energy and passion into you podcasts! It’s quite an opportunity to listen to your guests and I really enjoy the format.

One of the questions that I would like to see you explore with your guests is how and why do they keep doing what they are doing? From a financial perspective as well as a creative one, once they have achieved some level of “success”, what drives them do keep creating? How has time changed for them and do they have more of it, less of it and why do they still “work”?

You’re really doing a great job with these podcasts. Between this and the EDM episode, I’m feeling a powerful need to do something creative. It’s really neat to see a podcast cover such a diverse range of topics!

Love your podcasts. One suggestion, is there a way to have them subtitled in Spanish? If not, in English? There is a lot of information on them and if you can read, it makes it easier. More when English is not your first language.
Thanks!

And here I thought the remarkably intriguing Glenn Beck interview was the Tim Ferris podcast gold standard. That was short lived though as the conversation with Jon Favreau effortlessly seizes the mantle. Eagerly awaiting the sequel.

This. Was. Amazing. Exactly what I needed on a down-motivation point on my business, and being super busy. Listening to this I dived back in 100x energy and smashed out heaps of the work on my business tasks (that I have to do after 9-5 at videogame company or on weekends) 😀

Great podcast!! I wanted to watch Chef and this got me to stop for a second and watch – just an awesome movie – I really don’t care if others opine on my opinion, but when I can sit back, get into the plot and just leave the world behind – the movie is great fun! Thanks Tim – great guest!

I watched Chef about 6 months ago with my kids. To which my mom commented “wow, but the language”. First, that’s what a kitchen sounds like and second, like they don’t hear/say that shit at school all the time. Fantastic movie on many levels. Thank you for sitting down with Jon, it was great to hear more about him and his perspectives.

Congrats on the green light to the TV show.

One more addition – your reference to Patrick Rothfuss’ fiction in a previous podcast has charmed me into listening to more…

Thank you for your honesty and commitment to educate us on a weekly basis. I have recently been turned on by a friend and listen to you every morning @ 4:00 working out. You have been a big impact on my thought process and running my business